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Defend the Boundary Waters

The Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters actively opposes the decision issued Wednesday by the Trump administration’s Interior Department to reinstate two old expired mineral leases at the edge of the Boundary Waters.

The highly controversial Chilean-owned mining company, known as Twin Metals Minnesota, was also granted the right to pursue renewal of these two old leases that would allow it to develop America’s most toxic industry: sulfide-ore copper mining.

Statement from Doug Niemela, the National Campaign Manager for the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters, on the Twin Metals lease reinstatement:

“The decision made by the Department of the Interior on May 2, 2018, in favor of Chilean-owned Twin Metals Minnesota is a setback but by no means a surprise. This decision sends the message that our public lands next to our precious Boundary Waters are open to dangerous sulfide-ore copper mining.

The Department of the Interior’s decision is an end-run around the U.S. Forest Service and against the will of the American people in order to serve the profits of a foreign-owned mining company.

The Forest Service got it right when it decided in 2016 that sulfide-ore copper mining was too risky next to America’s most visited Wilderness. 70% of Minnesotans agree and are working tirelessly to protect the Boundary Waters and prevent its watershed from becoming an industrial mining district.

This decision is an immediate threat to our clean water, wildlife, public health and the strong northern economy and will not go unchallenged; reinstating these expired leases is unlawful and contrary to longstanding mineral leasing policy. We intend to pursue legal actions against this decision.

The American people must stand up and speak up for the Boundary Waters—to all elected officials and land management agencies, including the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Forest Service—and express their disapproval of sulfide-ore copper mining near the Boundary Waters.”